Member Poem

Under God's eyes they were bound as one,
Bell and Beaupré,
his beloved Dorothie,
a shining light in his heart.

So inspired by love was he
that he made her a window,
sunlight illuminating the stained glass,
colours dancing across stone halls.

The window, a display of their love,
their names joined in eternal embrace,
a love as fierce
as the fever that took him.

One day there, held in the warmth of her tender heart;
the next, entombed in the cold clasp of stone.
Foul plague stole his breath
and shattered his beloved's heart.

In the light of that window she stood,
shimmering tears falling,
a kaleidoscope of colour
beneath a black veil.

Love, stolen from lovers' souls too soon,
his voice was never heard in Oxford's halls again.
Yet still, she lingered in the glow of their window,
her heart aching for the love now lost.

Lovers reunited in death,
their names lost to time,
yet their story endures,
and their window still shines.

Framed, safe in the embrace
of another who lost her love too soon,
Victoria and Albert hold that lasting light,
and lovers' blood flows through my veins.